VILLANOVA, Pa.—The spotlight shined on the softball graduating Class of 2022 before, during and after the game as Villanova (18-19, 6-4 BIG EAST) tallied an 8-2 victory over Georgetown (12-19, 2-7 BIG EAST) at the Villanova Softball Complex on Saturday afternoon. The five seniors on the Wildcats roster who were recognized with their families in a pre-game ceremony all played in the game and they combined to lead Villanova to its fourth straight win and the 98^th victory of their collegiate careers.
 
This year's graduating class includes outfielder Erin Gray (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.); center fielder Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.); catcher Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.); pitcher Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.); and shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.). Also getting a mention during Senior Day festivities were graduate students Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) and Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) who were officially recognized last year and returned to the Wildcats for their final seasons of collegiate eligibility this Spring. Saturday's pre-game ceremony began with the Wildcats presenting a rose to each of seven seniors on the Hoyas roster, all of whom were in the starting lineup for a veteran Georgetown club.
 
Traditionally held before the final home game of the season, more and more teams are moving their annual Senior Day game to the middle of the season to avoid creating distractions when there are postseason implications late in the year. Having Senior Day fall with several weeks remaining in the regular season offers another caveat, as the graduating class can be celebrated for their career accomplishments with the promise of more still to come. Villanova is 98-71 (.580) during the careers of its Class of 2022, which coincides with the arrival of head coach Bridget Orchard who took over at her alma mater before the 2019 season.
 
As for the game, the victory was a big one for a resurgent Wildcats team that has won four straight overall and six of their last eight on conference play. Villanova reached double digits in the hit column for the fourth consecutive game on Saturday and is outscoring the opposition by a 34-8 margin during its four-game winning streak. The burst of offense has lifted the Wildcats into the middle of a crowded field of contending teams in the BIG EAST standings.
 
Kern and Henry combined for four extra-base hits and five runs batted in on Saturday to set the tone in the 8-2 decision. Kennedy (4-6, 3.38 ERA) was the winning pitcher and gave up just a run on three hits over four strong innings. Hayes started in center field and reached base safely twice, while Gray entered as a pinch hitter in the third inning and logged time in right field. Between the two teams, 12 of the 14 players who heard their names called during the Senior Day ceremony reached base at least once in the game.
 
The scoring came early and often for Villanova, beginning with consecutive RBI doubles by Kern and Henry in the bottom of the first. Rauch walked with one out in that inning and scored on Kern's line-drive double to the gap in right-center field. Henry followed with an equally hard-hit drive to left-center for a 2-0 lead and eventually scored herself when junior Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) lifted a ball into right-center field which fell between three Hoyas defenders for the third hit of the inning. Junior third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) homered down the right field line with one out in the home half of the second and, two batters later, Kern smashed a ball over the camera platform and into the abyss far beyond the center field fence to extend the margin to 5-0.
 
Georgetown scored its only run off of Kennedy on successive hits with two outs in the top of the third inning but also saw the inning end with Rauch making a strong throw from deep right-center field to nab Abby Smith at second base trying to stretch a single into a double. Alyssa Chavez had doubled to the gap in left-center field two pitchers earlier and came around to score on what wound up being an RBI single for Smith. Kennedy retired the side in order in the top of the fourth inning and the Wildcats plated two more runs of their own in the bottom half as the lead swelled to 7-1.
 
Smith walked and Rauch singled to right to set the table for Villanova in the fourth inning and force a Hoyas pitching change. The runners had moved to second and third with one away when Henry one-hopped the top of the wall in left field for a two-run double. Each team added a run on RBI doubles in their fifth-inning turns at the plate. Georgetown got a two-base hit from Jones and sophomore pinch hitter Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) countered with a run-scoring double of her own in the bottom of the inning.
 
Freshman pitcher Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.) made her 20^th appearance of the season in relief of Kennedy and was charged with one unearned run over two innings. Sophomore Caroline Pellicano (Norristown, Pa.) pitched a scoreless seventh.
 
Villanova will go for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
NOTES: Kern finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI in Saturday's game … Henry was 2-for-4 and drove in three runs … The first three hitters in the Wildcats batting order all scored two of the team's eight runs … Rauch singled leading off the bottom of the fourth inning to become the 14^th player in program history to reach at least 200 hits … Rauch has 200 hits at Villanova and exactly 250 for her career, which includes her time with the Wildcats as well as her freshman year at Fordham.